Friday, March 29, 2013

I Gave Up Facebook (am I nuts?!)

Facebook has been a huge part of my life since college! I love keeping in touch with old friends, new friends, and family through notes & pictures. In fact, my now-husband first contacted me through a message on Facebook. We spent about 3 months writing back and forth (I've printed and kept the correspondence like old-fashioned love letters!) before we started dating and our long-distance relationship turned to conversations over the phone There are so many good reasons to have a Facebook account...


  • Store photos
  • Find old school mates, neighbors, friends
  • Keep up with out-of-state family
  • Show off our cute kids (let's face it, we're all biased)
  • Read the headlines from people's lives
  • Receive important news (engagements, pregnancies, graduations, etc) 
  • Be a witness for Christ with godly words
  • Encourage those who are hurting
  • Track events
  • See a "journal" of your life, like a type of diary
  • and more!

With all of these good reasons to have Facebook, why did I choose to close mine down? Let's see if I can explain...

Too Much Wasted Time I do not have self-control when it comes to FB, so limiting my time has never worked well for me. And when I would scroll through FB while watching TV, or get on while I was with people I knew the situation was becoming ridiculous! I should be fully engaged in conversation when I'm with people, and it just seems uber-geeky like an addiction to be watching TV and playing on FB! My solution- something I have been putting off for a while actually- is to close it down completely to take away the temptation. 

On a related note... I find that I am most frustrated with my kids when they interrupt me. There is a balance here, there are times when they should wait patiently for me to finish a task before requesting my help. I am not talking about those times. When I am on FB, I often get annoyed when pulled away to do something or help my children. Total honesty here (embarrassingly so!), this is not how a godly woman should respond! My #3 primary role in life is to be with my kids (#1 is God, #2 is my husband). Getting rid of FB gets rid of another thing that keeps me distracted from being a godly mother. Now my time is spent teaching, training, and playing with my children.

Too Much Filth All media has content that I, as a Bible-following Christian, do not approve. In some way, media will include advertisements, statements, pictures, content, etc that I do not wish to see. There is really no way to avoid this in a public, cost free, platform. And, I say this gently, some times the things people post are not glorifying to God or edifying to God's people. And don't get me started on anti-Christian articles or political things! My mood can easily be affected by the content I read on posts, or see in advertisements. The only way I can control what my mind takes in is to keep my mind away from those things, i.e. closing down FB.

Too Hard to Filter So many times I want to post a statement that is not appropriate of a woman of God. This might be a complaint against someone or something, a rant against an issue, a TMI post that would not be modest, something that I should not find humorous, venting,  and so on. As a Christian I need to filter all my words and actions to make sure that I do not sully the name of Jesus Christ (which I have done before, unfortunately). This is hard work; by getting off FB I remove another "job" from my long list of To-Do's. Now I don't have to think about what I will say on FB, because I don't have it.

These three reasons are the main ones for getting off FB, even though I could name other little ones (annoying game requests, fear of my information/pictures getting into the wrong hands, etc). I thought it would be hard to be off FB. I wondered what I would do with all my time? I was afraid I would lose touch with people I wanted to connect with. I have family in another state, and friends from college scattered all over the globe! HOW WILL I SURVIVE?!

I "quit" FB on Tuesday, and today is Friday. Let me list what I have accomplished during all of those pockets of time I used to be on FB.
  • I've been less inclined towards electronics at all, like TV
  • I've read Philippians, Colossians, 1 & 2 Thessalonians, 1 & 2 Timothy, Titus, and Philemon
  • I de-clogged the bathroom sink
  • Organized [most] of The Pile from the hall stairs
  • Done an extra load of laundry
  • Read more books to my kids
  • Took my kids outside (despite 45 degree weather- hey, it was sunny)
  • Sent many texts (which are more conversation oriented than reading a post on FB)
  • Had time to converse with a friend when she called
All this in two full days and one partial day! And these are only the "extra" things I did with my day, they do not include the things I would have normally gotten done (diapers, breakfast, diapers, dissolved child arguments, diapers, lunch, diapers, general chores, diapers...). I'd say this list makes ending FB worthwhile!

I figure I'll have FB withdrawal at some point. And someday I may choose to get back on with many more limitations than I had previously. But, with texting, phone calls, and email, I will have no problem keeping up with people. Our conversations will probably be fuller and more encouraging than a statement here or there on FB anyway. In the end, I think this is the right decision for me at this time in my life. I may be nuts, but I think I can live with that.

3 comments:

  1. Proverbs 31 comes to mind. Wise decision.

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  2. Not nuts. At all. I would ashamedly say I'm addicted as well. If it wasn't for being a hello mornings facebook group leader I think I'd quit as well. I'm praying about how to put facebook to rest as much as I can. I hope we stay in touch. I've loved hearing from you, reading your posts, and have loved getting to know you more. Proud of you, cousin! :)

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  3. I find this so encouraging as I have spent the last 5 years on fb and I have four kids. I feel so guilty of the time I have waisted! I can't believe I took so long to see the reality of the waisted days with them. It's not been health for me at all.

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